


A Heart of Gold

by Highfrency



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Biohazard | Resident Evil References, Biohazard3, Blood, Blood and Gore, F/M, Game: Resident Evil Resistence, Gore, Horror, Infected, Nemesis - Freeform, RE3R, Raccoon City, Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Samuel Jordan - Freeform, Sexual Content, Stars, Survival Horror, Tyrone Henry - Freeform, U.B.C.S, UBCS, Umbrella, Valenvaef, Valerie Harmon - Freeform, Valeveira, Violence, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25143646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Highfrency/pseuds/Highfrency
Summary: Jill Valentine gets chased through Raccoon City by an enormous creature, Nemesis, and tries to survive in this hell. Zombies have already overtaken everything and she believes to be the only living human being left. But is she really?
Relationships: Carlos Oliveira/Jill Valentine
Comments: 20
Kudos: 40





	1. Purgatory

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my second (and bigger FF) in english!  
> Everything you'll read here is heavily inspired by the Resident Evil 3 Remake. I took some sceneries from the game, but changed the dialogues and events completely. 
> 
> Later in the story I'll also add some Resident Evil Resistance parts and a lot of Nicholai!  
> Hope you enjoy it!

She ran down the alley.  
The blood stains under her shoes left red marks on the ground. Her breathing was heavy and her heart pounded like mad. Lungs burned.  
She looked around. She knew, she couldn’t hide forever, she had to take a breath somewhere. She felt her legs getting heavier and heavier, her body needed a break.  
But there was no time.  
  
A loud and dark howl behind her let her ran even faster now. It came closer and closer, every step she took, were three for the monster, it would reach her any second.  
She could hear its breath behind, the bared teeth gleamed in the dark and were hit by the light of the flames that were all around them.  
The woman jumped over the hood of a police car that was still burning and almost stumbled as she reached the ground again, because a zombie laying down underneath it, had tried to grab her foot.  
She didn’t stop and ran even further, but where to go? She knew she couldn’t do this any longer but the creature seemed to have no issues following her even faster. She had to hide.  
She left the main road and entered a dark alley, where an old car with already broken windows was found. Besides that, it was in an overall good condition.  
She stopped.  
Her chest went up and down, she had to catch her breath again. There was no other way. The loud steps of the monster behind got louder, screaming got darker and she sensed it was inflamed with rage, so she didn’t waste any more time. As soon as the creature reached the alley, Jill was gone.  
  
The monstrous creature slowed down, sticking its head in the air, looking around. Jill held her breath and slightly turned her head to look through the shattered glass of the cars window.  
She could see the rotten flesh falling from its bones, shining in the moonlight. Pieces of black clothes hung down on it and the light of fire lit up the gruesome body, showing off the huge muscles on arms and legs, while it slowly walked down on all fours, towards the car. The claws from what had been hands once, scratched the bottom with every step.  
The smell of rotten flesh and blood laid in the air. Jill turned around again, still hiding behind the car, holding her gun up, shaking, trying to calm her breathing.  
_If it finds me, … I’m done for._  
  
She held her breath and her mind went crazy. The grip around the gun got tighter, already knowing that the bullets she still had left wouldn’t even scratch it.  
Suddenly the sound of the claws stopped and everything went silent for a moment. The creature stopped, looked up in the air, opened its mouth and screamed incredibly loud from the top of its lungs.  
Jill covered her ears, closed her eyes in pain and pressed herself even more against the car, sensing her head would explode any minute. The gruesome scream shook her to the core.  
As soon as it turned quiet again, it turned slowly around and walked away, trying to find its victim somewhere else.  
She waited till the very last had vanished, until she tilted forwards and braced herself with her arms from the ground and started coughing. Her lungs still felt like they’re on fire and she sharply inhaled the oxygen around her. As soon as she had cleared her foggy mind a bit, a stabbing pain hit her from the left side of her stomach.  
She looked down and saw blood dripping from an open wound underneath her ripped shirt. Because of all the adrenaline rushing through her body, she didn’t realize getting hit by the claws of this thing earlier.  
She fell to the ground and turned on her back, pressing both of her hands on the wound. Blood warmly poured through her fingers.  
_Fucking shit …_ she thought to herself in heavy pain.  
  
Underneath her a small puddle of blood appeared. The wound must have been very deep and she felt her head getting dizzy.  
“Need … to get out of here. Fast.” The woman turned around again and regretted it immediately as she let out a high-pitched, painful scream. She slowly stood up again, her legs felt numb and her mind felt so damn heavy. The warm, red liquid flowed down her pants and had turned her shirt into a mess, although it was only the cherry on top, regarding the fact she had been hunted down through mud, puddles, blood and rotten flesh.  
She looked around, her vision was shaking. Where to go? She had to find something to clean out the wound and stop the bleeding, or everything would’ve been for nothing. She could not die here.  
  
She placed one foot in front of the other, while supporting herself with her arm at the wall beside and pressing the other on top of the wound. She reached the main road again and peeked around the corner.  
Her vision was blurred and her head bumped like crazy, she just couldn’t concentrate. Her legs got heavier and she felt strength leaving her body. Panic overcame her for a moment, her heart rate increased and she had the urge to take a deep breath but her lungs wouldn’t let her.  
_Fuck, Jill … calm down!_  
She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and took deep and long breaths. Her mind cleared slowly and the heart rate went down again.  
“Don’t fucking lose your mind now …”, she repeatedly murmured to herself. Her bright-blue eyes opened again and she looked around, everything around her had been turned in total chaos. Shattered windows, crashed cars, dead bodies and flames everywhere her eyes landed. Raccoon City had been turned into hell.  
  
Her head leaned on the wall and her eyes followed upwards, landing on a bright shining billboard with a smiling woman on it. _‘Umbrella Corp. The future is in our hands.’_ were the insights.  
It was a miracle that the headlights pointed at it were still working – or just sarcastic. She couldn’t help herself and let out a light chuckle while shaking her head. As her mind had cleared a bit, she felt the pain at her side again and realized she couldn’t waste any more time. She pushed herself off the wall and wanted to walk further, as something grabbed her foot suddenly. She looked down in horror, recognizing a zombie that had been crawling towards her from under a car, with only its upper body left. The guts were showing and only a small bit of muscles held them onto the body part that had been left.  
Jill pulled out her gun as fast as she could and shot. But she missed. The bullet hit the shoulder of the creature and landed in the ground underneath it. Her hands were shaking.  
With the last ounce of strength she had left, she broke her leg free with pouring her other foot in the face of what once had been a man. It fell backwards and stopped moving for a moment.  
  
Jill caught her breath, still shaking. She had been careless. _‘Never leave your surroundings out of sight, Jill.’_ Chris’ voice broke into her head and she remembered when he said this to her. It was moments after they had entered the mansion and encountered the first horrors of zombies.  
“Damn, Chris … I fucking need you here, right now.”  
  
Suddenly the half-dead body moved again and started to lift its arms. It turned around and started crawling towards the already hurt woman.  
“You guys never have enough, do you …”, she angrily said between her teeth. She _surely had_ enough. Pointing her gun at the thing, Jill focused, ready to pull the trigger, as all of a sudden a huge explosion to her left glazed everything in bright light. Jill got ripped of her feet and tried to cover her head with her arms, while splinters and glass flew over her, scratching her skin and massacring her body even more.  
She lifted her head and looked back – the half-dead zombie had been thrown out of sight because of the explosion, but it revealed something even worse.  
  
Where the road had been blocked by a car minutes ago, was now an open field and zombies came walking her way, slowly but steady. She realized they noticed her, their steps got faster, hungry for the fresh flesh that laid before them.  
“You gotta be fucking kidding me…!”  
Jills eyes widened and she got up again, forgetting the immense pain her body had to compete right now. Adrenaline was pushing through her veins and her vision got clearer. She grabbed her gun from the ground, wasted a second looking at it and put it back in her holster. She only had a few bullets left. And she didn’t want to waste it on them.  
  
She turned around and started running through the burning streets again while the cries of the undead were echoing all around her. When she reached another crossway, she stopped immediately as she saw what was almost a horde of zombies, coming her way. The lifted their arms, getting faster and faster, ready to scratch the flesh of her bones.  
Was there no one left beside her in this goddamn city?  
She turned left and felt her body getting weaker again. Her vision got blurry and she noticed that blood was running from her forehead into her right eye, from a small cut of the shattered glass that flew through the air of the explosion earlier.  
_Must hurry!_  
  
She got slower, but the zombies wouldn’t give up until they had their meal, some even started running. If there was no possibility of hiding behind the next corner, it would be her end. Only a few inches separated her from the creatures now and the smell of rotten flesh ran through her nose, almost made her puke right on the spot. Air got thinner.  
Jill looked back in horror, there was no way she was going to make this.  
Without looking forward, she jumped around the corner, bumped into something and fell.  
  
“Hey, what the-“, she heard a man saying and looked up.  
There was a big soldier standing in front of her in complete military gear, equipped with a CQBR assault rifle and a lot of grenades. The black, curly hair almost hid his dark brown eyes and the beard was barely visible in this darkness. Jill was paralyzed for a second, was this really, a real human being right here?  
Before anyone could say something, the cries of the zombies got louder and the man grabbed his rifle tightly and pointed it toward the creatures.  
  
“Damn, you got one hell of a party here, lady.”


	2. Tabula Rasa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all this time running around in a zombie infested city, fighting for her life, Jill would have never believed to see a living soul again, but her relief fastly turns into horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my second chapter of Heart of Gold!  
> It's much shorter than the first one because I just started now to separate the story in different chapters. Don't mind it, the third one will be muuuuuuch longer! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Everything happened so fast.  
The soldier turned away from the still on the ground sitting woman, and shot one bullet after another.  
Continuous groaning of these gruesome creatures marked their death and those who fell on the ground, stopped moving.  
He surely had a good aim and obviously knew where to shoot. But there was no end in sight yet.  
  
A click of his weapon indicated he was already out of ammo.  
“One at a time, take a number!” He angrily shouted at them, while grabbing another magazine out of the many pouches on his vest.  
  
In that moment, Jill had already got back up on her feet again, stood beside him and shot the nearest zombie in the head. As it hit the ground head first, blood splashed out of the dead body.  
“Don’t forget to count your bullets.”  
She said without looking at the man, still pointing her gun at the enemies. No matter who he was, all she thought about was that he was a survivor like her, _for now at least_.  
  
The man looked at her, chuckled and clicked in his new magazine.  
“Ladies first.”  
  
The cries of the damned were heard for a few more minutes after that. One bullet after another hit its target and it seemed the horde got thinner. As only one was left, crawling towards the unlikely team, Jill came up to him, looked down at it in disgust and shot her last bullet in its head.  
Then, everything turned quiet. Only the crackling fires around them could be heard.  
  
“Phew….”, the man behind her whistled and let his gun down. “You must be pretty popular here.”  
  
Jill didn’t turn around, nor did she answer. She didn’t even move, so the man took some steps closer to her.  
“Hey, who are you any-“  
He stopped mid-sentence because of Jill turning around fast and pointing her gun at his face.  
  
“Hey, I’m not a zombie! Name’s Carlos…”, he said while lifting his hands in the air, showing her that he was no threat.  
  
“You’re with Umbrella.” Jill said, focusing her aim onto the man.  
She was not sure if he recognized that her gun was empty, but she couldn’t risk anything. The second she saw the red, well hated symbol on the shoulder of his left arm, she knew there were far more dangerous things in this city than zombies.  
  
“Yeah, that’s right.” He said, now lightly smiling. “I’m with the Umbrella Countermeasure Service, short U.B.C.S., we’re here to rescue people. Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”  
His eyes wandered down her hip, where he saw blood dripping from a deep wound.  
“And you’re hurt pretty bad, there.”  
  
Jill twitched and her eyes went down for a second, the pain got into her brain again.  
“You’re here to rescue people? Are you fucking kidding me?” She shook her head, tightening the grip around her gun, then looked at him again.  
“You’re the one who caused all this!!”  
  
After saying this, her mind went dark – she ran towards the man, threw her gun away, pulled out a knife out of her belt and attacked him.  
Anger and wrath boiled in her, all she thought about was the people she had lost, the things she had experienced because of Umbrella.  
Joseph, Brad, … everyone dead, the police chief that didn’t listen to them because he lost his integrity to Umbrella, leading to the horrors she experiences right now in Raccoon City.  
She just had enough.  
  
Carlos took a step aside, leading Jill to stab in the air.  
“What are you talking about! Calm down, Lady!”  
  
Jills breathing got heavier, she just didn’t care anymore. All she wanted was an end to all this. She turned around again, pushed the soldier to the ground, jumped on top of him, lifting her arms up in the air and pointing the knife right over his throat. Ready to stab him any second.  
  
“You won’t get me alive, you sons of bitches!” She said weakly, with tears in her eyes.  
  
In this exact moment Carlos realized, she wasn’t just an ordinary survivor he met, he knew there was more behind her story and he knew he had to calm her down, _with words_. He sensed she wouldn’t dare killing him, right here and in cold blood.  
All these thoughts went through his mind only in a few seconds. His lips formed a small smile again and he looked her right into the bloodshot, bright-blue eyes. They shone in the darkness and the short, brown hair stuck to her sweating and maltreated face.  
Blood from the cut over her right eye dripped in his face.  
  
“You’re beautiful.” He said, quietly.  
  
Jills eyes widened. What did he just say? She looked at him, totally perplexed.  
Her hands started shaking and so did the knife. She couldn’t take any more, she felt so damn weak.  
  
All the adrenaline rushed out of her body and before she could do anything, her mind turned black and she lost consciousness.  
As her upper body completely fell on the chest of the soldier he let out a relieved breath. The knife fell out of her hands, right beside him.  
  
“Easy, lady. You should take a break…” He said, while looking at the dark sky above them.  
  
He knew he had to hurry, her wound seemed pretty bad, so he straightened up, while carefully letting Jill slide off him. He turned her around and held her in his arms, looking at her body – he had to find out where _exactly_ all the blood was coming from, or else she’d bleed to death. He quickly located the deep cut at her hip and pulled up her shirt. His eyes got bigger and he noted the huge claw marks on her small body with horror.  
  
“Damn…”, he whispered as he pulled out a first-aid kit and quickly wrapped the scratches, hoping for the blood to clot faster.  
“There, that should work for now.” He said and his eyes turned to her face again.  
  
With his thumb, he gently wiped away the blood over her eye and found the thin cut of glass. Blood was slowly gushing out and glanced dark red in the night light, but it was not very deep so he was sure it would heal on its own, after he cleaned it up a bit.  
  
He looked up at her closed eyes again and pulled a bloody strand of hair off her face.  
  
“What the hell happened to you …?”


	3. A bleeding heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jill gets to know the U.B.C.S. mercenaries and already learns, whom she can trust, and whom better not.  
> PLUS: Resident Evil Resistance character appearances!

“Jill! Jill, this way!”  
The woman turned around and saw her partner, Chris Redfield, standing at an open door, calling her to come along.  
Before she could say anything, he disappeared inside and she was left behind in a huge entry hall. She looked around and realized, that this was no ordinary hall, it was the entry of the Spencer mansion.  
  
Her eyes widened and she looked down on her hands that were covered in dark red blood, gleaming in the dimmed light. The smell of blood and rotten flesh ran through her nose and she looked up at the door again. Chris. Her partner. She had to warn him. This mansion was full of monsters.  
  
“Chris!” she wanted to shout, but only her mouth opened. No voice was heard. She touched her neck in despair.  
 _What the hell is happening here …?!_  
  
She ran to the already closed door again and lifted her hand, ready to turn the doorknob, but she hesitated. Her mind was blurry, she was confused, afraid, why was she here again? Why was Chris here?  
Her shaking hands turned the knob slightly and the door opened with loud crack.  
  
In front of her – nothing. Only darkness.  
  
She clenched her eyes and tried to perceive anything, but nothing. She opened her mouth, afraid her voice would be gone again.  
“C-Chris …?” A short relief went through her body as she heard herself again, but it was barely audible and sounded weird in her ears, somehow dull.  
  
Then, sounds.  
Something in the right corner of the darkness in front of her, or was it on in the left?  
The quiet sound of screeching teeth that ate something came to her ears. She froze on the spot.  
She knew that sound. She heard it here, right in this room for the first time. When she entered the mansions hallway and found this pale, rotten creature that had bent over her former teammate and had started to eat his intestines.  
  
“J…Jill…..”  
She turned her head to the right – eyes wide open, she was frightened. There, in a pale shine of moonlight she could see something. Or someone?  
She felt it coming closer, air got thinner. She knew this voice.  
  
“Chris …?”  
She asked reluctantly and made a few steps back, opening the door to the entry hall again.  
“Answer me!” Now her voice was louder, and the light of the chandeliers from the entrance lit up what was right in front of her.  
The first thing she saw was the ‘S.T.A.R.S.’ badge on his shoulder, then the green vest he usually wore. Her eyes went up with horror and she looked him directly in his face.  
  
“So…rry….”  
Chris, her long-term partner and best friend stood in front of her, with a skin grey as dust. Rotten flesh hung down his mouth and his eyes had turned white. Blood was gushing out of his neck where he was apparently bitten. He lifted his arms, coming closer and closer.  
  
Jill saw him straight in the eyes, unable to move.  
“No …”, she mumbled with tears in her eyes. “Not you too …”  
  
Chris was dangerously close now and ripped open his mouth, ready to kill the fresh flesh in front of him.  
Jill closed her eyes. Tears running down her cheeks. She had enough.  
  
In the next moment, Chris ran at her, pushed her down to the ground, brutally drilling his rotten nails in her skin and bit her neck, killing her on spot.  
  
\- - -  
  
“Nooo!!!”  
Jill startled up, screaming from the top of her lungs.  
  
“Hey, wuoh, wuoh!”  
Someone behind her grabbed her shoulders, she knew that voice.  
She turned around quickly and looked into the brown eyes from earlier again. Her mind was going crazy; she couldn’t focus and her whole body was shaking. Only now she realized she was sitting on a bench, in some sort of subway.  
It was the Raccoon subway.  
She was in Raccoon City.  
  
“Hey, hey, calm down, it’s alright…”  
The man in front of her lightly smiled and watched her. He could see that she was confused and terrified. “You’re safe, now.”  
  
Jill looked around, no zombies in sight and no dead Chris either. She bent over, closed her eyes again, took some deep breaths and cleared her mind. If this would go on much longer, she’d turn insane. A few seconds passed.  
“Where are we …” She asked quietly, still with a shaking voice.  
  
The soldier stood up and sat down right across of her.  
“We’re still in Raccoon City, but this is a shelter. The place we brought some civilians that survived till now. We plan to get them out of town, soon.”  
His voice was calm and certain. Almost sounded … friendly to Jill.  
The woman looked up again and opened her eyes. She remembered the alley where she met him … and that she attacked him.  
  
At the blink of an eye she looked down at her holster, gun and knife were still where she left them, the man recognized it.  
  
“Don’t worry, I didn’t take any weapons from you. Oh, and the knife you attacked me with – I also put it back where it belongs.”  
He pointed at her holster and smiled.  
  
Jill looked away, she couldn’t stand his friendly attitude. He was still with Umbrella, right?  
He stood up again, putting his hand on the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes.  
  
“Hey, I know you don’t trust me. I don’t know why, but we all want the same thing here.”  
The woman didn’t look up but turned her head to her left side, looking down at her hip. The wound she had hours ago was wrapped in bandages and the pain got down to a minimum.  
She couldn’t deny it, this man saved her life and he didn’t even know her. On top of that, he was risking his _own_ life here saving civilians.  
 _Is he even aware of Umbrellas doing here?_  
  
She looked up and watched him, she didn’t know what it was, but she had the slight feeling she could trust him for now, but not without having an eye on the back of course.  
  
“Thanks … ehrm … Carlos, right?”  
  
The soldier opened his eyes again and grew his friendly smile again. He seemed so genuine.  
“Exactly, glad you remember my name! Left a permanent impression back there, shooting all those Monsters, hm?”  
  
Jill chuckled, shaking her head. “You wish.”  
  
The man laughed and they both shared a moment looking at each other. A few seconds went by in which she realized, it was okay trusting him right now.  
“Anyways…” He broke the silence. “What is your name?”  
  
Jill smiled and stood up again, but before she could say something, the door at the other end of the train opened and two men appeared. One wore a red beret on his head, the other one had grey short hair, both wore complete military gear, just like Carlos. The Umbrella U.B.C.S. symbol could be seen on their clothes as well.  
  
“Carlos…”  
The older man of both said and took some steps closer, slightly smiling.  
“Who is this fine, young lady?” His Russian accent was now showing.  
  
The black-haired man turned around and corrected his position. The newly appeared man seemed to be in a higher position then him, Jill thought.  
“I found her back in the city, getting chased by those monsters. She’s one of the few survivors.”  
  
The man looked away from Carlos, directly in Jills face.  
“Is that so? Her name is ... something … Valentine?”  
He remembered her face from the pictures his platoon got earlier for their rescue mission. They knew there had been a special police team in Raccoon City.  
  
Jill took some steps in his direction and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She smiled, but not without letting her surroundings out of sight. Only because she had the feeling of trust towards Carlos, didn’t mean she could trust all of them.  
“It’s Jill.”  
  
The man in front of her nodded.  
“Mikhail Viktor. I’m the platoon leader. And you’re an elite operative of R.P.D. Special Tactics and Rescue Service?”  
He looked down at her belt where the police badge shone slightly in the neon light of the subway.  
  
“That’s right.” Jill answered, watching the other man behind Mikhail. He didn’t say a word yet, just stood there with his arms crossed, watching her with a slight grin on his face. She had a weird feeling looking at him.  
  
“My team arrived in this town after everything went down already. Our target is to save the last remaining survivors and bring them out of town, with this train.”  
Mikhail took the word again and Jill turned her eyes away from the weird man behind him.  
  
“Survivors?”   
She asked surprised and remembered Carlos’ words from earlier. Are they actually telling the truth here?  
  
“We already managed to find some … but I bet there are more out there.”   
Mikhail pointed with his head behind Jill, who turned around and looked into the other train compartment. She didn’t notice it at first, but there actually sat some people together, holding each other, quietly crying, terrified. She couldn’t believe her eyes.  
 _There are still some survivors left?  
_ After what she experienced in Raccoon already, she refused to believe it.  
  
“Alright Carlos, I’m meeting up with Tyrell on the Subway entrance, wait for new orders here and take an eye on them.”   
Mikhail looked at his soldier again who nodded, then he turned around, leaving the train.  
  
“Gonna be right back.”   
Carlos whispered to Jill with a smile on his face as he left the compartment to speak to some of the survivors.  
  
She looked after him, but twitched immediately as the unknown man behind her clapped in his hands.  
Jill turned around, she had lost her smile, something was not right.  
  
“So…,” He said and she could hear a strong Russian accent in his voice too.  
“Jill Valentine, hm?” He laughed still clapping his hands.   
“How did you manage to survive so long?”  
His arms sank down again, but he still looked at her with a grin.  
  
“Let’s say, I got some experience dealing with those creatures.”   
She crossed her arms in front of her chest again, she had a different feeling about him. He was not like the other two she just met.  
The man came closer now and as he almost reached her, she realized he was at least two heads taller than her. The muscles on his arms were showing in the white shirt he wore underneath his bullet vest, he hadn’t lost his grin yet.  
  
“Experience, hm…?”   
He looked down at her hip where small blood stains squeezed through the gauze.  
  
The next thing happened way faster than her mind could follow – the man in front of her pulled out his gun, pointing it directly at her forehead, still grinning.  
Before he could say something, Jill had put her gun out of her holster as well, pointing it with both hands towards the soldier.   
Her calm expression had turned into an angry one. She knew she couldn’t trust him.  
  
“Did you get bitten?” The man asked, chuckling. “You know it only takes a few minutes to turn. But sometimes it can take up to a _few hours_ … even days maybe?”   
He pointed with his head to her hip, still focusing the gun at her face.  
  
Jill twitched. Her gun was empty, there was nothing she could do.  
“Still feeling great, thanks for your concern.”   
She answered through her teeth. Showing signs of insecurity was not the right time now.   
Of course she thought about that. After the mansion incident she couldn’t get rid of the thought to have caught the virus. But now, getting hit by this huge ass monsters claw, she wasn’t sure of being herself anymore.  
  
The sound of an automatically opening door came to her ears and the soldier let his gun down, looking behind Jill.  
  
“Nicholai! What the fuck are you doing?!”  
Unconsciously, a sign of relief went through Jills body, as she recognized Carlos voice.

“Just making clear that I won’t hesitate shooting infected.”  
Nicholai said, putting his gun back and turning around, walking towards the exit of the train. Before he left he stopped for a moment and looked back at both. He tapped on his left chest.  
“We don’t need a bleeding heart like you.” _  
_He laughed and left the train.  
  
Jill didn’t know if he meant her, or Carlos with that. All she knew was that she fucking hated that guy already.  
  
“Hey.”   
Carlos came to her side and put his hand on her arms, pushing them back down. She was still holding her gun.  
“I’m sorry. We’re all kinda worked up at the moment. It’s a new situation for all of us.”  
  
Jill put her gun back, still looking at where Nicholai had left.  
“He’s handling it pretty well it seems.” She said under her breath.   
The feeling of safety that appeared a few moments ago was completely gone again. She couldn’t trust anyone here but herself.  
  
“Take this.” Carlos ripped her out of her thoughts again and she turned to him. He was holding a pack of ammunition for her gun. “You may need it.” He smiled.  
  
Well, maybe she could trust _him_ after all.  
  
“Thanks, Carlos.” She took it and clicked it right inside her gun. The sound and knowing, it was loaded again, gave her a glimpse of safety back.  
  
“So, how do you feel now, Supercop?”  
Carlos sat down on the bench in front of her again.  
  
“Hm?”   
Jill didn’t realise he was talking to her at first.  
 _Supercop?_  
  
“The wound.” He pointed at her gauze. “Looked pretty bad, if you ask me. Couldn’t have been a zombie, am I right?”  
Jill nodded slightly.   
“No. I have no idea how to describe _what_ did that. Only thing I know is, it seems to be after me and is pretty fucking annoying.”   
  
She put her gun back in her holster and sighed. She really had no idea what that thing was. She put a hand on her gauze, it still kinda hurt, even itched sometimes.  
 _Itchy …_  
She felt panic growing inside her. Maybe Nicholai was right after all. What if …  
  
“Don’t worry.”  
Carlos took her back again.   
“I’m sure if it had infected you, you’d have turned by now. Don’t believe the bullshit he said.”   
He touched the bridge of his nose and leaned back, closing his eyes. “And even _if_ it infected you, I’d still be here to save you.” His lips formed a smile and he opened his eyes again.  
  
Jill couldn’t resist and started laughing.  
“I guess so…”  
  
“Alright, Supercop, I gotta check the trains engine in the front. We need to get this train moving, or else no one can escape this shithole.” He sighed and got up again, putting his rifle from his back in his hands again.  
  
“Right…” Jill said, watching him as he walked by. “Carlos?”  
  
The man stopped and looked back. “Hm?”  
  
“Take care.”  
  
A big smile appeared on his face and he put his thumb in the air.  
“Got it!”  
  
Jill smiled and he left the train. Now she was alone again. She sat down, leaned back and closed her eyes. Her head bumped and her heart rate got up. She realized how tired she was. How long has she been here already? She couldn’t tell anymore. Nicholais words appeared in her mind again.  
  
  


A laughter, barely audible through the thick door from the other part of the train reached her ears.  
She opened her eyes and looked through the little glass window.  
Three people could be seen that were talking to each other. Two tall, young man and a young woman stood together. One of the boys had blonde hairs, wore a college jacket and seemed to be in some kind of School Sports Team, Jill thought.   
The black man wore a fine shirt, with shorts and the girl in front of them had brown hair tied into a braid, wearing a white coat above a yellow sweater. She was laughing at what the men told her.  
  
Jill watched them and felt a sting in her heart, hitting her deep inside.   
She was reminded of Chris and Barry. In her time at S.T.A.R.S they always told her funny stories during their breaks, or did weird stuff to entertain themselves until their Captain, Albert Wesker, disturbed them and everyone went back to their desks.   
Jills heart ached.  
 _How could this all happen …_  
  
The girl turned around and Jill could see a symbol on her coat. It was on the right side of her chest. It was a symbol she was very familiar with. Her eyes got bigger. Umbrella.  
  
  


“Are you serious? This is soo funny!” The girl with the glasses looked at the black man, laughing about the story he just told.  
  
“I’m serious. Working as a firefighter in RC, you’re getting to see a lot of weird things in trees.”   
He responded and all three of them chuckled until the door behind them opened.  
They turned around and looked at the woman with the police badge at her belt, standing in the doorframe, looking at their female friend. Her face was dead serious.  
  
“Who are you?” She asked.  
  
“Ehrm…” The girl stuttered at first. “My name is Valerie. Valerie Harmon.”  
  
The woman in gear took a step closer and the blonde haired made a step forward, holding his arm between the girl and Jill.  
“Who wants to know that?” He looked at her, angry.  
  
Jill stopped and looked at him. The black man grabbed Valeries shoulders and pulled her back a few steps. “Yeah, is there a problem?”  
  
“Are you working for Umbrella?”   
Jill took the word again, watching Valerie now and pointing at the symbol on her coat.  
  
“Y-yes …” She nodded. “I’m studying chemistry at the Raccoon City University and got an internship at Umbrella to finish my master course …”  
  
Jill swallowed. What was she doing here?  
Those were innocent civilians … survivors, people barely younger than her. She snapped out of her weird state of mind and shook her head.   
She put her hand on the bridge of her nose and sighed.  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
The blonde man looked at her, confused.  
“What’s wrong, and who are you anyway?”  
  
Jill looked up again, now lightly smiling.   
“My name is Jill Valentine. I’m with the RPD. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. I just saw that you were working for Umbrella and …” She stopped for a second.   
Should she even tell them about the horrors they were creating?  
“Well … it’s nothing. Forget about it.”  
  
As she slightly turned away to leave through the door again, the voice of the woman stopped her.  
“What is it that you know about Umbrella?” She seemed concerned.  
  


“Val, what’s wrong?” The black man looked at her, she turned her eyes to the ground.  
“Tyrone, Samuel … do you remember what I told you a few weeks back?”  
The blonde man made a step forward now.   
“What do you mean? The thing about your roommate?”  
  
Jill turned around again, watching Valerie now who slightly nodded. She rubbed her hands together and seemed nervous.   
“You remember that I told you about my roommate acting weird after starting his internship at Umbrella? He always told me he was working at a super secret experiment he was chosen for but …”   
She stopped for a moment and looked up again. “It changed him.”  
  
Jills eyes got bigger and she came closer.  
“What exactly do you mean, it _changed_ him?”  
  
“I don’t know how to explain it …” Valerie hesitated. “That just can’t be true, you know, that would be insane!”  
Jill crossed her arms in front of her chest and Samuel, the blonde man took the word now.  
“Can’t get any crazier than what we already have, don’t you think, Val?”  
  
“Yeah but …” She sighed. “Okay, listen. When I started my internship a few weeks ago I had this roommate, he was very eager and overexcited about all he was working on. He told me it was a top secret experiment of Umbrella, somewhere deep inside the ground of Umbrellas labs in Raccoon City.” She exchanged eye contact with Jill and the others. “One day, I recognized something was not quite right.”  
  
“What happened?” Jill listened closely, anger started to boil inside her.  
“All of a sudden he seemed so … confused. He started to forget things, didn’t even who I was one morning. He didn’t sleep anymore, rather spend his nights in front of his computer, or sitting upright in his bed, doing literally nothing. He stopped talking and acted like …” Her voice broke. “A zombie.” Tyrone ended her sentence.  
  
“Yes …” Valerie looked back to the ground again.  
  
Jill couldn’t believe what she just heard. Umbrella was recruiting young people from University to be test subjects for their viruses? Like rats in a maze? How long have they been doing this already?  
Her nails drilled in her skin, she was furious.  
  
“I can’t believe this fucking company destroyed our city and created zombies! This is so fucked up!” Samuels voice got louder. “They have to pay for what they did!”  
Tyrone looked at him, trying to calm him down. “No shit man, but calm down now. We don’t want to disquiet the others. It’s already as worse as it can get …”  
  
Valerie looked up again, directly in Jills face. “You knew that, didn’t you? It couldn’t be a coincidence that you’re asking me specifically about the company.”  
She slightly nodded.  
Valerie shook her head. “This can’t get any worse …”  
  
Jill put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up again. She was smiling. “Don’t worry, Valerie. We’ll get out of here, believe me.”  
  
“She’s right, Val.” Tyrone grinned and pat her on the back. “We managed a lot of stuff already, this will be piece of cake!”  
  
“Yeah, we’re gonna kick their asses and make them regret destroying our town!” Samuel grinned from one ear to another and put his fist in the air.  
Jill chuckled and watched them, cheering the little girl up.  
  
Maybe there was still something left in this city. Something worth fighting for.  
  
Suddenly earth underneath their feet started to quake and the light in the train turned off.  
Panic started to rise by the other people around them, some started screaming. And then, another quake. Some couldn’t hold onto their feet and fell. Stones from the underground subway station fell onto the trains roof. The neon light flickered, lighting up the terrified faces of the survivors.  
“What the hell!” Samuel shouted, watching the roof. “What is that?!”  
  
Jills heart bumped. Then, another quake. It sounded so heavy. As if something came closer and closer. The sound of something scratching over the bottom appeared.  
She knew that sound already.  
“Take cover!” Jill looked at the young people and pulled her gun out. “Don’t move and hide inside the train!”  
  
“Hey, what-“ Tyrones sentence was left uncompleted as Jill had already walked inside the other train compartment again.   
The automatic door behind her closed itself again.  
 _  
It’s me he’s after …_  
  
She couldn’t risk getting these people in danger. Not this time.  
Then the sounds stopped.  
Everything turned quiet again.  
  
The light of the train still flickered and Jill had trouble keeping her surroundings in sight.  
She held her gun up and walked towards the exit door of the train, pushing the button to open it up. Gun first, she left the train and looked around. The light on the train station had turned off, everything was dark.  
With her left hand, she turned on the flashlight on her shoulder holster and stared into the darkness in front of her.  
  
The sound of moaning came to her ears and she focused the place she assumed its source with her flashlight.   
There was a zombie walking towards her, slowly but steady.  
Jill held up her gun until she was sure to hit the head with her next bullet, but before she could pull the trigger something much bigger appeared on her right side and smashed the zombie into the wall.  
  
Stones fell down and she had to jump a few steps back. As the dust cleared a bit, she looked up again. The small glow of the flashlight lit up red flesh and a huge body right in front of her. It was him again.  
Teeth were gleaming in the artificial light, blood dripped down out of his mouth and he looked more mutated than before. The right arm was bigger than last time and huge, sharp bones stuck outside of it. Claws were scratching the bottom as he turned around, facing Jill.  
  
He opened his mouth and let out a dark and loud scream.


	4. Collusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter 4 of "A Heart of Gold"!  
> I really grew to the Resistance Characters so I'm still very happy I introduced them in my story - you can read a lot more about them here, as well as Jill and Carlos aaaand Nemmy, who seems to have never enough.
> 
> Have Fun!

“You never have enough, do you? Following me around like a fucking creep!”  
Jill rose her gun again, pointing it directly to the head of the creature. She knew the bullets wouldn’t hit it hard enough, but she had to drag the attention away from the other survivors that were still in the train.  
She had to turn herself into bait.  
The creature watched her and as soon as it realized, she was the one it was looking for, it started to walk towards her, slowly and snarling. Each step caused a threatening quake.  
Jill swallowed.  
  
“AAAAAAH!!!”  
Suddenly, a loud scream appeared and Jill’s glance quickly turned to the side – a woman in the train recognized the huge creature in the flickering neon light of the station and startled all the other people around her.  
Men and women stood up from their seats, staring at the monster that had appeared, crying, screaming. Some wanted to run away, but the doors had been hit by falling stones and couldn’t open anymore.  
The moment Jill turned around to find out where the scream came from, the monster in front ran towards her and tried to hit her with its right claw.  
  
Jill crouched in the very last second, causing the huge claw to hit the stone wall on the side. Stones fell down again and Jill had to jump away, losing her sight of the monster for a second.  
As the visual contact between them broke up, the monster turned its head to find out where all the screams and crying came from. It beheld all the humans, trapped inside the small train compartment and didn’t hesitate one second.  
It used its huge legs to jump highly and very fast onto the trains roof. It shook heavily under its immense weight. The claws easily slit through the roof tearing it apart, piece by piece.  
Screams inside the train got louder and louder, only causing the monster to get angrier. It screamed loudly and punched the side wall of the station, destroying some pipes inside. Smoke appeared and gas, invisible to the eye, leaked into the station.  
Tyrone, Samuel and Valerie that were still in the compartment, had been hiding in one of the corners, both man stood in front of their female friend, trying to protect her from whatever would happen.  
The smoke flowing out of the pipes covered the trains windows and took away their view of the outside and suddenly everything turned quiet.  
A man stood up, slowly, walking towards one of the windows, staring outside. The only thing he saw was his own face getting slightly reflected from the glass.  
“Is it … gone?”  
  
The next second happened so unexpected that none of the passengers could react quickly enough.  
A huge claw hit inside, right there, where the man was standing seconds before. The side of the train was completely ripped off and the monster held the man in his huge hand, squeezing his tiny body.  
People around him started screaming and running around, they punched the windows and doors, trying to break them, but it was too late.  
A last scream was heard from the man that got caught by the monster, as blood splattered around, painting the insides of the train in dark red colour.  
The monster literally crushed him to death.  
  
“Holy….!!”  
Tyrone covered his mouth with his hand, eyes wide open.  
The grip of the creature loosened and the dead body fell to the ground. Intestines covered the bottom – from the whole upper body of the man, only a mud of blood and flesh remained.  
A woman, sitting on the ground, staring at the puddle of blood before her, with wide eyes, was screaming.  
The claw hit the train inside again, grabbing her by the leg, trying to pull her out.  
  
“Fuck!!”  
Samuel jumped ahead, grabbed her arm and pulled back.  
He was overwhelmed by the huge strength the monster had and had struggle to stay on his own feet. The woman looked at him, crying.  
“Help me!!” She screamed, as suddenly the sound of a body being ripped apart could be heard.  
Samuel fell back, pulling her into the train again, quickly realizing why it was so easy.  
Her complete lower body was gone and blood poured out of where her legs once were.  
The man, still holding the arm of the woman fell on the ground, watching her wide, white eyes that were still filled with terrifying fear.  
  
The monster started to hit the side of the train even more now, risking to derail the whole compartment.  
  
Jill who got up onto her feet again tightened the grip around her gun. She had to stop it somehow. Her way was blocked with fallen concrete. She had to hurry.  
  
Meanwhile inside the compartment, chaos and panic rose, the neon light came off completely, turning it into a hell of darkness.  
Tyrone who still tried to protect Valerie in one of the corners, peeked outside of one of the windows and clenched his eyes. He recognized the white smoke coming outside of the pipes from the wall but his view got blocked by the huge creature’s body again.  
“Sam!! Get your ass back here!” He screamed, but his words were barely audible for the blonde man, who still had trouble to reach back to them.  
The monster led out a dark growl and hit the side train one last time. The whole metal wall was ripped away and all remaining passengers could witness the creatures in its whole cruelty now.  
The flesh on its body shone dark red in the last flickers of neon light of the station, blood dripped from its claws, teeth ready to tear anything apart.  
  
One man who was crouching on the ground, shaking and crying, reached out to one of the pockets on his pants. Tyrone recognized the hasty movement and saw what the man was looking for.  
A small gun appeared and the man stood up, holding it up to the creature with shaking hands.  
The black man stared at him and immediately knew, he would never hit it like that, he’d rather kill anyone around him, so he turned around and looked at the monster again. His view fell behind it, back to the white smoke, still coming out of the pipes, but there was also something else …  
He clenched his eyes and realized slight waves of gas around them.  
His eyes widened, he knew what that was. As a firefighter, you’ll learn about all kinds of gas, smokes and how to identify them. He turned his head again, back to the man who was still holding the gun, ready to pull the trigger any second.  
If he would shoot now and hit one of those gas leaks …  
  
Jill finally reached a good aiming position, put up her gun and aimed at the creature’s head. She just had to attract it to herself. “HEY, FUCKER!”  
The monster put up his head, focusing its view on Jill.  
  
Then, everything happened so fast.  
As soon as the monster turned its face away from the passengers, the man pulled the trigger.  
In lack of thought, Tyrone grabbed Samuels sweater, pulled him back into the corner and pushed him and Valerie to the ground.  
  
The bullet left the barrel, but the monster had already jumped to hit Jill on the other side of the train, so it roamed its arm and directly hit the gas pipes in the wall behind it.  
  
A huge explosion was caused.  
By the force of the blast, the train got derailed, fell over and was covered in a sea of flames.  
The creature got hit and dashed to the side, disappearing behind a wall of blazing fire.  
Jill got ripped off her feet again and hit the other side of the wall with her back first, letting her unable to breath for a few moments and then, everything turned black.  
The heat of the flames filled the whole station.  
  
“Jill…!? Jill!”  
She heard a known voice, quiet and very far away to her head.  
As she opened her eyes again, she realized that she was laying on the ground, she must have been unconscious for a moment.  
She slowly got up and looked around – the whole station was in flames.  
  
“Jill, over here!”  
She turned her head and recognized a man in uniform at the exit of the station. He was standing on the stairs, waving. The way was completely blocked with stones.  
“Carlos …” She lifted her arm to show him that she was okay. “I’m fine!”  
“Thank God!”  
The man said, starting to make his way to her.  
  
Jill looked up and saw the knocked over and destroyed train, completely in flames.  
The screams had stopped.  
Some of the passengers got dashed out of the windows because of the explosion, others were buried inside.  
Anger started to boil inside the woman again, as she stood up and put her gun back in her leg holster.  
Again, she witnessed innocent people dying because of Umbrella.  
 _Everything_ because of Umbrella.  
  
“Hey, you sure you’re ok?”  
Carlos had arrived at her side, looking over her body – she had a few more scratches here and there.  
“I’m fine.”  
  
Carlos took a step closer, trying to grab her on her shoulder.  
“You su-“  
Jill grabbed his arm before he reached her and pushed it away.  
“I said, I’m fine.” She looked him in the eyes, anger boiled inside her.  
  
The man watched her with wide eyes, but he didn’t say a word. His view went down, as he reached out to his back, pulling out a grenade launcher.  
“Here.”  
  
  
Jill’s face didn’t change.  
“Always prepared, hm?”  
  
He shook his head; his face was dead serious. The friendly and flirty attitude he had earlier, was completely gone.  
“I know you don’t trust me, but I don’t care. I won’t let you die on me.”  
He pushed the weapon closer to her and she finally grabbed it, putting on the belt to attach it to her back.  
She looked him in the eye, but didn’t say a word. She didn’t know what to say or what to feel towards him right now, so she rather chose to say nothing at all.  
  
Behind them, in the wreckage of the trains leftovers, something started to move.  
“Carlos!”  
Jill grabbed him back to her side and both put up their guns, focusing the movement.  
  
A huge slab got lifted in the air, and both agents soon realized that there was no need for weapons.  
“Sam!” Jill shouted.  
  
The blonde man, covered in dust and blood from scratches all over his face, pulled up the slab and sustained it on his back.  
“Come on guys! Can’t hold it forever!” He says between his teeth, as some more people crawled out of the stone landscape.  
Tyrone got out and helped Sam by pushing the stones away, clearing the way for all the remaining survivors.  
“I got ya, Val.” He helped the young woman getting on her feet again, all three of them were grey as dust, covered with scratches and dirt.  
  
“They made it …” Jill whispered to herself.  
Carlos looked at her from the side, growing a lightly smile as he saw her brightened up face.  
  
But the peaceful scenery didn’t last long.  
A quake appeared again and Jill grabbed her grenade launcher even tighter now. It came back.  
From the wall of flames suddenly a huge shadow appeared, bursting through the fires, landing directly in front of Jill and Carlos.  
The remaining fabric on its body burned, but it didn’t care. Jill was tempted to believe that it just didn’t feel ANY pain.  
  
“Get away!!” Jill screamed and waved at Tyrone and Sam, who nodded and helped the last people getting out of the wrecked train.  
They found the emergency exit at the station and escaped over the stairs.  
  
“Carlos.”  
Jill said, not turning her face away from the monster.  
“We may didn’t have a good start but … I would be glad if you could give me a hand with this fucking bitch.”  
  
Carlos put on a smile, grabbed his gun and focused the enemy as well.  
  
“Took you long enough, Supercop.”


	5. Nemesis

“Any ideas?”  
Jill assured her position, still watching the creature.  
“I may have a few …” The soldier beside here said, taking a quick look around. They were still surrounded by open fires everywhere, they had to change the battleground as soon as possible.  
“Jill, I need you to give me some time …” Carlos turned his head and looked at her. “Can you do that for me?”  
  
Jill’s grip around her weapon got even tighter.  
“You can bet your ass I will.”  
  
Without saying anything else, Carlos ran towards the stairs that were still covered in stones and dust; He had to clear the way for them.  
The creature watched his moves, and as soon as it lifted his claw to hit him, an explosive grenade landed directly on his chest, pushing it back.  
“You stay with me, asshole!”  
Jill pulled the trigger again, but the beast reacted fast – very fast. It jumped aside and the grenade landed behind it in the wall.  
  
The woman looked up, quickly enough to avoid the huge claw that was hitting the concrete bottom once again.  
_How can it be so damn fast … What even is that thing …!?_  
_“It’s got a hard-on for the only two S.T.A.R.S. left in town: you and me.”_  
She remembered Brads words, minutes before he got bitten and died for her to escape. He was getting chased by this creature as well. So, Umbrella really wanted to get rid of all the remaining Alpha-Team members. All the survivors of the mansion incident, one by one.  
But this thing was different. Jill had already seen what Umbrella was capable of: Zombies, Hunters, even Tyrants, but this?  
  
“S.T.A.R.S.……….” The creature growled between its teeth, barely audible and dark, facing Jill again.  
“You want S.T.A.R.S.?” Jill stood up and reloaded her grenade launcher with fire grenades. She had to wait for the perfect moment to shoot. “I’ll give you S.T.A.R.S!”   
The monster pushed itself from the bottom and jumped right towards the last remaining S.T.A.R.S. member in town.  
As it almost reached her, she pulled the trigger, causing the shot grenade to directly hit it in the chest again. It fell down and started screaming. Fire seemed to be a better way to keep it on distance.  
“I’m not done yet!”  
Jill walked towards it, shooting one grenade after another. The fire explosions covered it’s whole body and the air was filled with the smell of burning and rotten flesh, but she couldn’t dare to stop yet.  
  
“Jill!”  
Carlos voice appeared again and she looked behind the beast, where Carlos was standing at the stairs, waving at her. “This way!”  
  
Jill pulled the trigger one more time, only to notice an empty magazine.  
“Fuck!”  
She grabbed behind her back into the pouch to grab some new grenades, but the monster had been faster. It stood right in front of her, lifting its claw again.  
“Hey, fuckface!”  
It stopped and looked around – Carlos was standing behind it with a hand grenade in his hand, the detonator already pulled.  
“Get down!” He screamed, looking at Jill who tried to get cover somewhere, as he threw the grenade towards the monster. It tried to evade it again, but the grenade already exploded mid-air and right in front of its head.  
An explosion occurred that shook the entire bottom and caused more and more stones to fall down.  
  
“Jill!” Carlos ran through all the falling dust and stones and reached the position where he suspected her.  
“I’m here!” Jill called, as she crawled out of dust and spalls. Her hair was grey as ashes and her face was covered in scratches.  
Carlos jumped over to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the wreckages. He put her arm around his neck and the other around her waist, supporting her, while facing the exit stairs again.  
“Damn, you’re still very beautiful.”  
Jill snorted and punched him lightly in his ribs. “Fuck you.”  
  
They walked quickly towards the stairs, but as soon as they reached it, a loud quake appeared and stones were flying through the air.  
The beast had woken up again, breaking its way through the stones that fell on it, screaming. It was furious.  
“Go!” Carlos let go off Jill and signed her to go upstairs.  
“I can’t just leave you here!” She wanted to grab her grenade launcher again, but the man put up his hand, showing her to stop.  
“Trust me.” He turned his head and looked at her. “I’m not gonna die on you and leave you in a cold, cruel, Carlos-less world.” He smiled.  
  
Jill swallowed. Was he serious? She knew there was no way he could defeat it on his own, but she quickly realized that he was confident about his plan. She could see it in his eyes. She had to trust him, had to leave him behind.  
  
A loud scream was heard again and their moment broke up – Carlos faced the enemy again and Jill ran up the stairs. She felt as if she had just betrayed him.  
As she jumped up the steps and reached the second floor, a huge explosion could be heard in the underground again.  
The woman stopped immediately and turned around. _  
No…_  
  
A bad feeling came up inside her as she pulled out the gun out of her leg holster again, watching the dust in front of her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and her heartbeat droned so loud in her ears, she was afraid someone could hear it.  
Did he just sacrifice himself for her?  
“Carlos?!” She called, but no one answered.  
She took another few steps, peeking around the corner into the underground again, but she couldn’t see anything because of the broken neon lights.  
  
“Could you please … stop aiming at me, anytime we meet?”  
A quiet voice appeared out of the dark and Jill felt a big relief, recognizing it to be Carlos.  
He slowly walked out of the shadows, his hair was grey as well as his clothes, and his face and arms were covered in little scratches.  
  
Jill put her gun away, putting her hands on her hips and watched the soldier, worried.  
“What were you thinking? Turning yourself into bait?”  
  
Carlos scratched the back of his head and looked at her smiling.  
“I got rid of your stalker.”  
He pulled out a small mine and held it in his hands. Jill hadn’t seen anything like that before, it was so tiny and shone metallic in the dim light.  
“Proximity mines. Exclusively made for the U.B.C.S. I installed them everywhere around the stairs as you distracted the bitch. It’s buried under stones, flames and whatever still lives down there. For now at least.”  
He put it back and looked up into Jill’s face again. He was surprised for a second, her serious and hard expression gave way for a soft and relieved smile.  
  
“I’m glad you’re fine.” She said. She really meant it. It was hard dealing with all this on her own all the time, she was glad they met.  
She took a step closer to him. “You’re bleeding.”  
She looked down at his arms that had some bigger scratches with blood pouring out and grabbed one with her hand. She quickly looked for something in her bags and pulled out a bandage, wrapping it slowly around the biggest wound. It turned dark-red immediately, but Carlos didn’t say a word.  
As weird as it may sound, he enjoyed this moment, having Jill right in front and so close to him. Although she was covered in dust and dried blood, she still smelled so damn good.  
  
“Here.”  
Jill cut the rest of the bandage with her knife and tied a small knot. She looked up again and realized Carlos gaze, was he watching her the whole time?  
He put on this warm and soft smile she had already seen, when they first met and as Jill let go off his arm, he grabbed her hand, stopping her from going any further away.  
  
“I’m glad YOU’RE fine. Seems like you’re the most wanted woman in town.”  
Jill also put on a light smile and looked him directly in the eyes. Her bright blue eyes fixated his, deep and clear as water. She didn’t appear to be uncomfortable, in fact, rather the opposite.  
“I guess so.”   
  
A few seconds passed in which none of them moved an inch, they just stood there, together, looking at each other. Two of the few survivors of Raccoon City, an agent hunted down by Umbrella and a mercenary who’s working for them, both still so young, yet so branded already.  
  
“Anyways…” Jill loosened the grip and made a few steps back. “I wanted to apologize.”  
Carlos eyes got bigger, but he could imagine what she meant. “For what?”  
  
“Attacking you.”  
Jill looked down on her hands, they were covered with scratches. She remembered the alley, only a few hours back where she attacked a man she didn’t even know, she didn’t even _tried_ listening to him.  
“The moment I learned you’re with _them_ , my mind just fade out. I couldn’t think straight.”  
Her arms sank down, but her head went up again, as she focused him again.  
“Thanks for saving me in the alley. And … for now. I don’t know if I could’ve managed it on my own.” She slightly smiled, but she would have rather puked on the spot. She felt so damn stupid right now.  
  
“Don’t mind it.” The man in front of her smiled again.  
“I don’t know what happened to you, but I bet you have good reasons to be concerned about us. If you don’t want to speak about it, that’s fine by me. But if we both get out of here alive, I would like to hear your story.”  
  
Jill took a deep breath. She was relieved that he didn’t ask what really happened, she couldn’t speak about it for now and she was worried he wouldn’t even believe her.  
“Thank you, Carlos.”  
  
The man came closer and put his hand on her shoulder.  
“Come on, let’s get out of here, partner.”  
  
Jill grinned and pulled his hand away. “Not your partner.”  
  
\- - -  
  
As they took the stairs up they didn’t say a word. It was okay for both of them to just have a moment of silence. Jill’s thoughts circulated around the creature that attacked them again, who sent it? Who was responsible for all this again? Was it only one person, like in the mansion? Or was it the whole company now, fearing their secrets would be unveiled?  
She had to find answers to her questions and more important: She had to find the men behind this.  
  
Carlos watched her out of his eyes from time to time.  
He didn’t know why this creature was behind her, but he was worried it might have survived the explosion down there. Likely to Jill, he had never seen something like it, but he had the feeling he will continue to see a lot more of these things, in this town of the living dead.  
His only priority now, was keeping her safe and alive.  
  
“Carlos!”  
Both looked up the stairs, as a black man, also clothed in a U.B.C.S. uniform appeared at the top of the steps. His black vest shone dark in the neon light, as well as the white shirt underneath it. He was wearing glasses, Jill noticed.  
“Damn, Tyrell!” Carlos grinned and they both greeted each other with a fist bump.  
Jill stood aside.  
“I thought you were dead, man!” Tyrell said.  
“Nah, I won’t die before you, remember?” Carlos answered, laughing.  
“Ballsy motherfucker … what the hell happened down there?” Tyrell’s eyes changed from Carlos to Jill who still stood behind him.  
“We’ve been attacked by a huge monster. Whole train blew up. A few civilians got away, but not all of them.” Carlos voice got lower at the end and Jill could feel that he was worried. Just like her.  
  
“Fucking shit.” Tyrell whispered. “Gimme a sec, I’ll contact Mikhail. He and Nicholai went back in town before you decided to blow up the station.” He had a smile on his lips again as he put out his radio and took a few steps away to reach to their leader.  
  
“Jill.”  
Carlos turned around and held a small radio in his hand. “Take it, we can use it to stay in contact.”  
Jill lightly smiled. Of course she knew what a radio was, but she didn’t commented it.  
“Thanks.” She took it and put it on her belt. It was a good feeling having something, to stay in contact with him if they get separated. She was tired of coping with all of this on her own if she’d been honest.  
“Carlos! And ….?”  
Tyrell’s voice appeared again and they both turned around.  
Carlos opened his mouth to introduce her, but Jill already passed him and came towards the new soldier and looked at him. “It’s Jill.”  
Tyrell smiled.  
“Great. Carlos, Jill – let’s go. Mikhail said they found some new survivors hidden in some alleys, but he got separated with Nicholai and Murphy. He needs our help.”  
  
Carlos nodded and all three of them left the subway through a half-opened roller shutter. As they arrived on the streets again, Jill took a deep breath. Her lungs filled up with fresh oxygen again and her mind got clearer. She was glad to be on the surface again – although the city was nothing more than a destroyed mass, it was still her hometown.  
  
“This way.” Tyrell pointed with his head in one of the side alleys. All the main roads were blocked with barriers, reviving the memories from hours ago, before the police got overrun by the living dead and eaten alive. All that was left of them now were the dead bodies wandering around the streets.  
Carlos followed him with his rifle in his hand, watching their surroundings – something was not right. No sound could be heard, no screams, no zombies in sight … it was too quiet.  
“T. wait a sec …” The man in the green vest froze on the spot and turned around, looking at Jill who was a few meters behind him.  
“Somethings wr-“  
  
His last words were cut off, as suddenly something very big broke through the streets right between them. Stones and dust flew through the air and Jill feel a few steps back. She immediately grabbed her grenade launcher from the back and focused the big hole that had suddenly appeared right in front of them.  
  
“Jill! You alright!?”  
She could her Carlos from the other side of the dust wall, but something huge blocked her sight.  
  
“You gotta be shitting me …!” Her eyes got bigger as she realized what was standing in front of her.  
A loud scream hit their ears again, louder and darker than before. The body of the beast had changed again – it seemed like it was still mutating. The parts that got hit by flames, grenades and stones had been regenerated somehow. It came back, even stronger than before.  
The woman covered her ears with her hands, it was deafening, her head felt dizzy.  
  
  
“Jill! Come over here!!”  
Carlos voice was barely audible, so Jill opened her eyes again and tried to recognize where his voice was coming from.  
With disbelief, she noticed the completely changed body of the monster, it seemed a lot bigger than before and even a few tentacles broke through its skin right on its arms.  
As the soldier called her, the creature noticed him and turned around, it seemed like it remembered him from the subway earlier.  
  
“Carlos!! Get away from here! I’ll buy you some time!”  
Jill shouted through the dust, hoping he could hear her. She couldn’t risk their lives.  
With her grenade launcher in hands, she aimed at the back of the beast and shot a fire grenade in its direction. As it hit the flesh, it started to burn immediately and the creature screamed, turning its head around again – focusing the woman.  
One of the tentacles peeking out of its arms were shot in her direction in an incredible speed. Jill jumped out of the way, following the tentacle with her eyes – it hit the house wall right behind her and she could see some sort of liquid coming out of it, shining slightly in the street lights.  
Her heart bumped faster. This attack was different from the others it used, it seemed like it tried to … infect her with something?  
Jill looked up again, the monster stood in front of her, down on all fours again, just like the first time they met in the alleys of Raccoon City. The first time it hit her with its claw. But something changed. It seemed to be more focused, more … concentrated, she even had the feeling it had thought about a strategy to finally get her.  
Her eyes went behind it – she saw Tyrell in the back, standing in front of a metal door, waving and shouting at Carlos who was still standing there, aiming at the creature.  
She noticed he wouldn’t leave without her, so she had to make a decision.  
  
“Well then, let’s play some hide and seek, you sucker!”  
She hastily turned around and started to run into a narrow alley behind her – she had to lead it away. The monster didn’t hesitate one second and jumped up onto the roof, following her steps there.  
  
“Fucking shit, Jill!”  
Carlos shouted, but it was too late, they were already gone.  
“Come on, Carlos! We have to get out of here!” Tyrell grabbed him from behind and pushed him towards the metal door, leading them to Mikhail’s suspected position.  
  
\- - -  
  
_She ran down the alley.  
The blood stains under her shoes left red marks on the ground. Her breathing was heavy and her heart pounded like mad. Lungs burned._  
Over and over she was experiencing the horror again. She was trapped in a nightmare.  
She felt the creature in her neck, it was following her from the roofs – the only thing that protected her now, was the size of her surroundings. She had to act smart.  
In the blink of an eye she changed her direction and escaped to an adjoining alley, thanking herself inside, that she knew this city like the back of her hand.  
At the end of the street was the garage of a friend of Chris. She knew the place, they had been there together because of a bike that had to get repaired. It was a gift for his sister, Claire.  
  
Suddenly a tentacle hit the wall right beside her and Jill had trouble to keep on her feet.  
_Just … a little more!_  
  
The neon lights of the shop appeared at the end of the alley, and a small ray of hope grew inside her.  
The metal doors may be able to stop the beast for a moment. A moment she clearly needed.  
Only a few meters separated Jill and the promising shelter, so she ignored all the pain and exhaustion in her body and pushed further.  
  
She lifted her hand, trying to reach the doorknob, as the huge beast landed directly in front of her, blocking the way into the garage.  
Jill stopped immediately and looked around, trying to find another way in. At the side of the building was a small hole, just about large enough for her to squeeze through. She had to try.  
  
She focused the beast, prepared herself and waited for the last moment.  
The monster lifted its hand and struck the ground, but only hit concrete.  
Jill crouched and jumped underneath it, pressing herself through the small hole. She had trouble passing through completely, because her leg holster got caught by metal wires that peeked out of the wall.  
“No…!”  
Suddenly something very strong grabbed her foot and tried to drag her out of it again. One of the tentacles looped around her leg.  
Jill screamed, it felt like it would crush her whole leg any second.  
She turned her upper body around, reached to the knife in her belt and hit the tentacle with all the remaining strength she had. Blood spilled around and it took a lot of immense punches with the sharp blade, until the pressure got loosened and she managed to break free.  
She shoved herself deeper through the hole and finally made it into the garage. With her last remaining energy, she turned over a heavy shelf that was standing at the door, blocking the hole in the wall.  
The monster hit the doors and walls from the outside heavily, but they seemed to withstand – for now at least. Then, everything turned quiet.  
  
Jill sank down with the wall at her back, breathing heavily. The neon-light inside the garage was flickering. In one of the corners stood an old truck and a small staircase led up to the back exit. The room was filled with the smell of oil and gasoline.  
She was alone. Again.  
  
“Jill! Jill, come in!”  
Jill startled up, watching the blinking radio on her belt. She quickly pulled it out, pressed the button and answered with a shaking voice, she was still out of breath.  
“Carlos … I’m fine.”  
The man on the other side sighed loudly. “Thank God. I can’t believe this fucker is still alive.”  
Jill lightly laughed. “Yeah, me neither. But I lost him.”  
“Where are you now? I’m coming to get you.” He seemed concerned.  
Jill stopped for a moment and lightly smiled. It was so good to know she had someone to trust. A partner in this hell on earth.  
“Don’t worry about me, I’m in-“ She suddenly stopped, as the backdoor of the repair shop broke up and a wounded soldier stumbled in. He grabbed the handrails and tried to come down the stairs, leaving blood marks on it. His whole uniform was covered in blood, he was wearing a red beanie on his head, but he seemed to be alive and what’s more important - still human.  
  
“Jill? Jill, what happened?”  
The woman ignored the radio for a second and got up quickly. The man was in pain, blood poured out of a huge wound in his stomach.  
He dragged his heavy body down the stairs and broke down, right in front of her.  
“You’re U.B.C.S.?” Jill asked, kneeling down beside him, watching the huge injury on his body. She knew what caused that, she had already seen these wounds.  
The man nodded quickly and looked at her – realizing her worried expression.  
“C’mon don’t look at me like that, alright? I’m not an infected!” He desperately screamed.  
  
Jill opened her mouth wanting to calm him down, as suddenly steps behind her appeared and the man widened his eyes looking up, holding up his hands in fear. “No, nonononono!!”  
A gun shot hissed past her and the wounded soldier was hit directly in the head.  
Blood spilled in her face as the dead body sank down completely. Jill turned around quickly and gazed into a very well known, barrel.  
Nicholai put his gun away again, the everlasting grin was still on his lips.  
“He was infected.” He said, calmly.  
  
Jill got up, facing the man angrily.  
“He _might_ have been infected!”  
  
The man with the white hair chuckled and inspected Jill from head to toe.  
“You’re unreliable. Can’t pull the trigger when it counts. No wonder so many of you S.T.A.R.S. are dead.”  
  
Before she could reply anything, something big broke through the wall behind Nicholai.  
The creature was back again, it ripped the whole wall apart, ready to finally get its victim.  
  
The U.B.C.S. soldier made a few steps back, focusing the huge beast.  
Jill’s eyes got bigger, she pulled out her gun, ready to aim at it, as suddenly Nicholai grabbed her arms from behind, disarming her and twisted her arms behind her back.  
“You son of a …!” Jill tried to break free, but his grip only got tighter.  
The creature came closer.  
Nicholai’s head appeared right next to Jill’s from behind, with closed eyes, he smelled her hair, still grinning like a maniac.  
“I am excited to see, what Nemesis is going to do with you.” He whispered in her ear, tightening the grip around her wrists even more.  
“You’re working _for them_!?” Jill angrily shouted, still trying to break out.  
“Well let’s say … I’m working for whoever pays me the most.” He laughed, now looking at Nemesis, who almost reached them.  
He took one of his hands out of the grip and ran his fingers through her hair, as his hand turned into a fist, harshly pulling her head back. Jill’s breathing got heavier, her scalp burned.  
“It’s not after me …” He whispered in her ear.  
  
After these words, Jill’s mind snapped out. With her last remaining energy, she ripped out of the grip on her head, raised her right leg, kicked down and hit Nicholai’s knee with full force.  
The grip on her hair loosened and Nicholai tilted forwards, letting out a painful scream.  
Jill took the opportunity. Without looking back, she blindly hit backwards, feeling her fist directly hitting his face. She turned around and Nicholai kneeled before her, face down. He suddenly started chuckling and stood up again, slowly and threatening. His lip was bleeding, but he was still grinning like a maniac. The same expression as they first met in the subway.  
He rubbed the blood away with his thumb, focusing Jill with his eyes.  
“Such a threatening girl …”  
  
As she wanted to grab her knife out of her belt, she suddenly froze.  
She felt heavy breathing on her skin, a huge presence behind her. The creature had come up to her, standing right at her back. In the blink of an eye she abruptly felt a sting.  
  
In shock, she slowly looked back, noticing a huge spike in her upper right shoulder. Without thinking twice, she ripped it out, but her mind suddenly went weird. Nemesis was standing right behind her. She could feel it breathing on her skin.  
Her heart rate got up, she had the feeling to suffocate, her skin burned, her legs were numb.  
She tilted forwards but didn't hit the ground yet; Nicholai caught her and kneeled before her, watching her face, interested.

Jill could barely keep her eyes open, her muscles hurt and her head felt so heavy.

Nicholai lifted his right hand and grabbed her chin, turning her head left and right, observing her actions.

“Let's see how long it will take …”  
His face came closer to hers, their lips almost touched, Jill’s breathing got heavier. She couldn't control her body anymore, but felt his presence right in front of her.

The man clicked with his tongue and touched her lips with his bloody thumb, softly rubbing over them, leaving them dark red. Her mouth was filled with a metallic taste. His gaze went over her whole body, and stopped at her chest that went up and down quickly. His free hand went up behind her head, grabbing her hair, pulling it back again.  
The soldier came closer to her neck, smelling her scent once more with a deep breath, pressing her body against his.  
“Sleep well, Miss Valentine.”  
  
The last thing she saw before everything went dark, was Nicholai’s smirk above her.


End file.
